


Hogfathers and Handgrenades

by DIW



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Canon-Typical Violence, Discworld References, Family Bonding, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Misunderstandings, Movie Night, black mask - Freeform, no beta we die like jason, weapons bust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28637199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DIW/pseuds/DIW
Summary: It's Jasons turn to pick the movie, the last one before Christmas. He's looking forward to a chance to bond with his siblings and relax for a night.Of course things never go as planned.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67





	Hogfathers and Handgrenades

**Author's Note:**

> I started re-reading Hogfather a while back and thought -Jason would enjoy this book- then I wondered if he would share it with anyone. Then I thought - PAAIIINNN -  
> And that was my full thought process. 
> 
> Hurt No Comfort Ahead.
> 
> And relatively little to do with the Hogfather at all...  
> (also, I forgot that the Hogfather movie was actually a two part mini series, so please uh, pretend its a movie?)

Jason had just walked into his current apartment when his phone buzzed. He dropped his keys on the entryway table before pulling it out of his pocket, then froze as he read the message. 

It had been a few months, - okay, maybe more like six, since his tentative truce with Bruce. Things had been strange since then. Good. Nice even. Really, extra weird too because after maybe a month of playing by the rules suddenly all of his – all of his _siblings_ had decided that they needed to spend more time with him. Swooped down and invited him to rooftop pizzas and shared patrols. 

When Jason had agreed to play nice he figured it just meant he would stay out of their way and they would stay out of his. It was a big city, they could all work it without running into each other. As long as they stayed out of the Alley it was fine. Then when Nightwing showed up one night Jason thought the other shoe was finally going to drop. He was surprised to find himself mildly relieved. He had been on edge waiting for another confrontation since his chat with old man Bats. 

But instead Dick had invited him to get coffee sometime. “To catch up”. Jason turned him down immediately. Then the others started popping up asking him to hang out. Jason resisted but the invitations kept coming. He wonders who was more surprised the first time he agreed. He knew he should keep his distance but he honestly just didn’t want to. 

He wanted to be part of the group. Just for a minute. 

It had been sushi on top of a bank with the girls. It was easier with them, with no shared history. Stephanie took over the conversation for the three of them only prodding Jason to talk when she wanted him to agree with her. It started off so tense but the two of them made it easy for him, no pressure or expectations. (Jason swears he didn’t mean to talk Steph out of giving herself bangs that night, and he’s not entirely sure why it’s _his_ fault now that she eventually got them anyways.) It was _nice._

When Nightwing landed on the roof with them Jason was fully ready to bolt, but all the man did was steal a California roll and dive back into the night, mouth stuffed and grinning like a loon. 

That’s when Jason first thought maybe, maybe, _maybe_ it wasn’t a trap. Maybe he was allowed to have this. 

They all kept inviting him to things and every so often Jason would agree, usually when it meant chasing down drug runners or sometimes grabbing a bite with one or two of them. And _always_ if they were desperate for backup. 

Dinner at the manor had been mentioned once, and movie night had been suggested a few times but it wasn’t until Tim told him Bruce would be out of town that Jason had even considered it. 

He’s actually gone a few times now. 

The first time he went was the first time Jason really got to see Alfred since he’d been back and that just about broke him. No masks, no emergencies, no yelling at Batman to interrupt the meeting. And when being in a room with all the bat kids at once got a bit overwhelming he snuck off to sit down with Alfred for a bit. They talked about a whole lot of nothing and when the movie ended no one called him out on disappearing. 

Last time he went Steph quickly claimed the spot next to him so the two of them could keep up their running sarcastic commentary, while Damian, who chose to sit on the floor kept giving them the stink eye and called them “noisy imbeciles”. _Damian_ who was mortally offended by every fight scene and let everyone know it. Meanwhile Cass had perched on the head rest behind Steph to play with the blondes hair, Tim, who had been tucked tight into the far armrest at the start, ended up laying stretched out across everyone on the couch snoring lightly, and Dick threw popcorn at anyone he thought wasn’t paying enough attention to the movie he picked. 

It was _fun._ It was like being part of a family. 

Jason kept staring at his phone because _this_ was not something he was expecting. 

Dick sent two more messages in quick succession which was enough for Jason to huff and continue on to his kitchen. 

They had just chosen Jason to pick the next movie. The last one before Christmas. 

He hadn’t even known he was in the rotation. 

He didn’t even know how they picked a movie, Jason just showed up and someone put one on. 

Were there rules? Was there a list to choose from? What movies have they already watched? 

Should he pick something serious? Something campy? Something awful that they can make fun of? 

Dick: 

_if you need help picking I can help!_

Tim: 

_No._

_Dick picked last time. Now we get a break._

Dick: 

_U slept through it. U don’t get to judgr_

Tim: 

_Sleeping was a choice. I chose it._

Well fuck. He was in a group chat? They added him in? 

Jason let them argue it out, the girls popping in just to laugh, as he started to put a light lunch together for himself. 

He hadn’t seen a lot of Christmas movies really. Frosty and Rudolf and whatever other classic cartoons when he was a kid. Most of Miracle on 34st when it was on TV. But those were clichés right? And _way_ too sentimental. 

Closing the text messages after sending a basic _Ill figure something out_ _myself thx_ reply, Jason started searching up terrible Christmas movies. Then, delighted to find it was an actual genre, terrible _horror_ Christmas movies. 

It seemed like the safest option. Not uncomfortably emotional, not too serious so as to make the others groan and think he’s stuck up or something. Something, hopefully, they can all laugh at together. Maybe bond over how bad it is. 

Taking his plate over to the comfortably beat up couch Jason kicked off his boots, put his feet up on the coffee table, and settled down to spend the afternoon reading through movie synopsis. 

It was a few days later, only a few more until the much-anticipated movie night in question, when his film choice was brought up again. 

Dick: 

_So just a couple of guidelines for the movie…_

Jason had spent the better part of a day narrowing down his choices, trying to find something bad enough that they could mock it, but good enough that the others would want to watch, not saccharine sweet but also not too violent. He watched trailers and read reviews and finally landed on something that seemed like it would work. 

Jason: 

_Ive got one in mind Don’t you fret_

It took some effort for Jason not to just watch the movie by himself first just to make sure it was going to be alright. At least the rating let him know there wouldn’t be anything too ‘Adult’ in it. 

Steph: 

_Lol_

Dick: 

_It has to b a CHRistmas movie_

Jason: 

_It is_

Dick: 

_In the spirit of the season_

Jason: 

_Sure_

Uh…in the loosest sense. Maybe. Really, what _is_ the ‘spirit of the season’ when you get down to it. 

Dick: 

_…Not diehard._

Jeeze give him _some_ credit. 

Jason: 

_Of course not._

Steph: 

_Boo_

Tim: 

_No zombies._

Jason: 

_Well you guys just take the actual fun out of everything don’t you?_

Well shoot. 

Now he had to find something else. 

Ignoring Stephanie's delight and Dicks disbelief that there might be a zombie Christmas movie, Jason quickly mentally ran through all the other movies he had looked at. 

It was safe to assume if they didn’t want zombies they probably wouldn’t want any other creature feature. Maybe evil Santa was still alright? There were a few of those around. Or Gremlins? That was supposed to be a classic right? Not that Jason had seen it. 

Jason was ready to pull his hair out in frustration. He thought he was ready, that he had something good. Now he had to start over with less time. 

He sent a laughing emoji to the group to cover himself - couldn’t let them know he was scrambling last minute, he should always have had a back up plan - before he quickly looked back at the lists he found online, scrolled through the local TV listings. But nothing seemed right. 

Finally he tore through his bookshelves hoping for some sort of inspiration. Though he didn’t hold much hope. 

It had been a _long_ time since Jason had celebrated…well, anything. He definitely wasn’t going out of his way to pick up seasonally festive books. But there was always the chance that something he read had mentioned Christmas traditions in passing, or was at least vaguely set in the season, or maybe one of the authors had written a Christmas book that had been made into a movie and seeing their name might strike a bell. 

But it was feeling pretty pointless to look. Maybe he should just bite the bullet and ask for suggestions. 

He couldn’t ask Dick though, he would pick something Jason wouldn’t be able to stand watching. Steph would just tell him to go with his original pick, screw everyone else, and he just couldn’t do that. No. He had to do this right. Damian wasn’t an option obviously; the kid would never let him live down the fact that he couldn’t even pick out a movie. 

He could always blow up his building and claim he was ‘suddenly unable to attend’. That would probably backfire though. Still. It’s an option. 

Which left him with Tim or Alfred. Alfred could save him. 

His hand twitched as he slowly reached for his phone. It felt like defeat, like giving up or failing. At least neither of them were likely to call him out in front of the others. Well, as long as he didn’t piss off Tim. 

He still had a few days though…he could go to a store and browse their movie selection. 

He could _do this_ damn it. 

And just when he was about to walk away from his shelves, thinking about working out to distract himself for a bit, his eyes fell on one book sitting innocuously amongst the other fantasy novels. 

Well. That could work. 

He picked it up and flipped to the list of other books in the series. Then pulled up the info online. 

It was perfect actually. 

Jason grinned as he looked at it. 

He had had an actual copy of the book in question at one point – actually, did he finish reading it? – it might still be at one of his old safe houses but it had been left behind when he got the itch to move. Whenever he was hit with the urge to find somewhere new, somewhere safer, he would grab his clothes, armor, and weapons and move. Everything else left behind. 

It’s actually been almost three months since he last moved…it might be a record. 

Jason briefly considered dropping back into a few places and grabbing any books still laying around and bringing them to his current place. It might be nice having a more… _semi_ permanent place. Somewhere to go back to when the need to bolt dissipates.

So he could go and grab some of his things. If they hadn’t been stolen already. 

It didn’t matter though; the important thing was _Jason found a freaking movie._

_The Hogfather_

It was actually, _surprisingly_ , perfect. Fantasy setting for Tim (Nerd), enough childish magic to delight Dick (the dork), a legal group of assassins for Damian (not touching that), and a strong independent woman for him and Steph (the kick ass duo) to cheer on. (He honestly had no idea what Cass enjoyed in a movie. She could be watching closely for the first half then turn her back on the tv for the rest. But she just seemed happy to spend time with everyone, so it should be fine. Probably.) 

Bonus, it wasn’t likely that anyone else had seen it yet. 

A few reviews said it was pretty faithful to the book and Jason trusted Sir Terry to tell an interesting tale. 

It was going to be good. 

Movie night arrived far too quickly. But also, it somehow took forever for the evening to arrive. 

Jason pulled up to the front of the manor, decorated tastefully with warm yellow christmas lights, a short while after Tim sent a message letting him know Bruce left for the night. 

Jason never acknowledged those texts from Tim, but he was unbelievably grateful for them each time. 

It was easier for everyone if he could avoid running into the old man. 

Alfred greeted him as soon as he got to the door and Jason slipped a present out of the duffle bag he was carrying his gear in (because Gotham criminals didn’t always respect movie night. Go figure) and handed it over to the grandfather like butler. 

“You _could_ give this to me on Christmas. If you decided to join us this year.” Alfred challenged with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yeah. I’ll think about it Alf.” The other man hummed as they both knew Jason wouldn’t. It was still too much for him. Even just being around Bruce set him on edge these days. Hell, he was trying not to grind his teeth every time he set foot in the manor. 

Thankfully Alfred accepted the gift without pushing the issue. “In any case, thank you Master Jason,” he said lifting the wrapped box, “I’m certain I will enjoy whatever you picked out for me this year.” 

Jason hoped so. He had found an old bound collection of poetry, a ratty spy novel, and a tin of the _good_ tea Alfred preferred. Or at least, the kind he used to like. His tastes may have changed in the years since Jason lived here. He managed to shove it all in a shoe box and got it wrapped at the mall. Now _that_ had been a nightmare.

“A few of the others are already in the media room if you wish to join them. Refreshments will be brought out shortly. Or if you prefer to bring your things downstairs first...” 

Jason huffed. “I think I’ll go get the movie set up.” His things didn’t belong in the cave. Not yet. 

They parted ways and Jason quickly heard happily chatting voices. He was relieved to follow them to the media room, as it helped push down the wrongness he felt walking through the halls unsupervised. He didn’t belong in here either.

Steph cut off whatever conversations they were having to greet him excitedly when we walked in. Tim turned and raised a hand in greeting, looking exasperated. Damian looked over from where he was laying across the armchair, gaming device in hand, and huffed at him as greeting. 

“Hey kiddos,” Jason greeted to general irritation, dropping his bag by the doorway and walking over to lean on the back of the couch. “What’s happening?” 

“Steph won’t stop flipping channels.” 

“ _Tim_ is on his tablet and doesn’t get a say.” 

They kick each other where their legs are tangled up and Jason rolls his eyes “Well, good news, there’s going to be a movie to watch soon.” 

The two on the couch turned at the exact same time to stare at him. It was eerie. 

“What movie?” 

“What did you pick?” 

“Is it animated?” 

“Does it have zombies?” 

Jason blinked. “Creepy. You guys are creepy. Is it too late for me to escape?” 

“Too late.” Jason managed not to jump as Cass appeared at his side. Barely. 

He gave a tight smile down at her. Cass looked one second from jumping up and hugging him, but instead she turned and bumped her shoulder into his side. 

He smiled a little easier at her after that. As upsetting and annoying as it was to have her be able to pick up every single thing he was feeling from a glance, right now he was just grateful. 

“Oi!” Jason turned just in time to see Steph pull something out of Tims hand before chucking it at Jason. Jason blocked the improvised projectile instantly ready for a fight, but Steph ignored that as well as Tims outraged cry, “Answer the question. Zombies?” 

Jason tried to quickly blink back into a neutral expression. Neutral for him. It might be considered a ‘smug asshole’ expression by any other standards. “Nope. Replacement vetoed that idea, remember?” 

Tim frowned up at him innocently “I was joking.” 

“Welp it's too late now.” Jason grinned at him to cover up his slight irritation at having to change plans just because it's hard to convey tone in text. He was also trying to fight down the anxiety induced green creeping in. 

“Wait, so it _did_ have zombies?” 

“We’ll never know now.” 

“Cass, hand me that stylus so I can throw it at Jason again.” 

Cass grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze. 

“So, what are we watching?” Tim tried again. 

“Yes Todd, what nonsense have you brought to make us suffer through?” 

“Well, gee, I don’t know,” Jason replied with faux innocence, “I just walked into the store and grabbed the first DVD I saw.” 

Damian huffed, “Yes that is exactly what I would expect from you.” 

Jason rolled his eyes. These brats were irritating, always had to have a comeback for everything, and could always get under his skin. And this? Having this huffy back and forth with a pocket-sized assassin? Jason wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

“Alright who's heard of The Discworld series?” At the shared confused looks Jason smirked. “Well, this is about a flat world that's on top of four elephants that stand on top of a giant turtle swimming through space, and their world's version of Christmas, Hogswatch.” 

Steph gave him a flat look while Tim studied his expression, the two clearly unsure if he was joking. Damian just snorted going back to his game, “I knew you would inflict something ridiculous on us.” 

Jason just rolled his eyes. Bumping Cass’s shoulder once then he made his way around the couch moving towards the media centre. He paused beside Damians chair and pulled a folded note out of his pocket, holding it out to the current Robin. 

“What's this?” the kid asked with evident suspicion. 

“Just read it.” Once the paper was snatched from his hand Jason continued on to start setting the movie up. A moment later he heard the paper being crumpled up before it hit the back of his head. 

“What is this, throw things at Jason night?” He asked with a good-natured huff, turning to head back to the couch only to see Dick grinning brightly. 

“Oh! I don't want to be left out!” and the immature oldest child threw a bit of popcorn at Jason. 

Jason watched unimpressed as the popcorn fell short and dropped to the floor. 

“ _Master Richard._ ” 

Jason grinned and he heard Tim snort as Dicks smile turned sheepish. 

“Sorry Al,” he offered, shoulders around his ears, “I’ll clean it up.” 

Alfred just hummed as though he didn't believe a word of it as he set down a tray of drinks on the table. “Try to behave yourselves.” 

Once Alfred left they all laughed at Dick who just waved them off. 

Dick dropped down on the sofa, Tim only just pulling his legs out of the way before he could be crushed. “Come sit by me Jay!” Dick patted the empty space between himself and Steph. 

Jason walked to the far side of Stephanie and nodded at her, “Scoot over.” 

“No way! He’s going to go into octopus mode.” 

Jason darted down to hook one arm under her legs and the other around her back, picking her up just enough to slide her over into the empty space. “Better you than me.” He quickly claimed her spot for himself. 

Steph made a deeply offended noise while Dick wrapped an arm around Steph and Tim each before sticking his tongue out at Jason. 

“Oh, you are _such_ a jerk.” 

“It's part of my charm.” Jason grinned at her. Honestly though he just couldn’t stand the thought of being in the middle. Gripping the armrest helps keep him grounded. If he was surrounded the need to flee would be unbearable. Throw in Dicks clear need to cuddle, and well. Violence probably would occur. 

He _could_ take the other armchair. But it felt wrong. He was here to be a part of this, he could suck up his own issues for the next couple of hours. 

Cass leaned forward to wrap a hug around Dicks neck, then she grabbed Tims tablet before walking over and taking Damians device, setting both under the table as she took her spot on the floor. 

With one final check that everyone was good – something in Jason eased when Damian didn’t make any other comments, just sat with his arms folded and looked begrudgingly ready to give it a chance – they hit play. 

The movie started with the usual narration. Then at the reveal of the world on the turtle Stephanie's _“wait for real?”_ and Dicks flat _“what.”_ had Jason's anxiety spiking. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe he should have picked something normal. Frosty is a classic for a reason. 

But Tim snorted in amusement a moment later and no one was looking at him judgingly for picking it. So far. 

The feeling eased as the whole group fell into easy banter as they watched, poking fun at each other mostly and picking apart the scenes they are enjoying. Jason's gaze kept flicking over to see everyone else’s eyes glued to the screen and grinning. Watching Dick offer Cass the popcorn without looking, listening to Damian complain about one of the characters. Laughing as Tim gets Steph's help in trying to push Dick off of the couch for a truly terrible pun. 

Maybe it wasn’t so terrible. 

Then, because this is Jason's life and he isn’t meant to have nice things, before the villains even get to the tooth fairy's castle, all the phones sound. One short shrill burst, clearly different from any of the normal notifications. 

The others grab their devices as everyone jumps up already heading for the cave as they check if there's any information attached to the alert. 

Jason's right behind them, only pausing briefly to grab his bag waiting by the door. 

His heart was pounding as he followed. The others were unable to dig up any info as they rushed through the hallway to the clock in the study. Tension was palpable, none of them liked being in the dark. Metaphorically. 

They reached the bottom of the stairs in record time, with remarkably little bickering between Damian and Tim. 

As soon as they were gathered around the computer Batman barely glanced at Jason before facing the group and launching straight into it. 

Blackmask had been up to his usual tricks and Batman managed to get last minute word that the villain was expecting a couple of large shipments, weapons and drugs. 

Jason was both surprised and annoyed. Keeping tabs on Roman Sionis is his hobby. Messing up the man's work is his pet project. How had he missed this? Yeah he had other things going on, pimps to smack, gangs to keep down, and he and Red Robin ended up working together to destroy some traffickers but he didn’t even hear a whisper of this. Clearly he needs to pay more attention. 

Once they were given the basics they were sent to gear up. Jason joined the others by the lockers. Rolling his eyes at Dicks refusal to even look at his duffle bag – jeez, it’s not like it’s the same one he shoved all those heads in, the blood would have been a bitch to clean out of it - and, okay, those are the jokes he has to keep to himself if he wants to avoid another stint at Arkham – he stripped quickly putting on his gear and leaving everything else inside the now considerably lighter bag. 

Chatting easily with Tim as the younger ex-Robin finished suiting up, then walking out with him towards Dick while he switched on to the frequencies the Bats were currently using. 

Jason honestly hated being in the cave, for too many reasons to list, but somehow being down here and geared for battle was so much more comfortable for him than sitting on the couch upstairs. A therapist might have a field day with that. That might be where he wanted to be, but he couldn’t help but wonder if that was where he would ever again belong. 

They were giving him a chance though. That’s what mattered. He could do this. 

And being a vigilante? He could do this in his sleep. 

Batman barked out their assignments and everyone hopped on a bike, Jason doubling up with Nightwing, and they tore out towards the city. 

They ended up by the docks, same as always. Boy did the bad guys love the docks. 

And warehouses. Man, a warehouse by the docks – Black Mask was two for two on the bad guy cliché list right now. 

And moving weapons _and_ drugs? Check and check. 

It was going to be fun taking this guy down. 

Unfortunately, they were given confirmation that Black Mask wasn’t in the area, but if they can’t give the man a beat down, at least they could still ruin his night. 

Paybacks a bitch. 

Jason was stationed on a nearby roof waiting for the go signal, Nightwing and Red Robin on neighbouring roofs trying to get as many angles on the situation as they could. So far they only counted five guys patrolling, but there’s sure to be more inside. 

Meanwhile across town Batgirl, Black Bat and Robin-the-fifth were doing something similar at the second location. They were fairly confident that their one was drugs while this one was the weapons. So sending the older kids in the more dangerous area made sense. Jason just hoped they hadn’t got it backwards. 

Batman was currently off doing his own thing, possibly because it was easier than spending a night with any of his chatty sidekicks when he could be brooding in silence. Or maybe he really thought he could get the drop on Black Mask by going in alone. Well, all things are possible. But Jason would guess the man was not going to show at his regularly scheduled meeting while he had multiple big-time jobs going on elsewhere. But that was just his opinion. 

They dove in feet first, Jason knocking one goon straight to the ground while Red Robin swept the legs out from another one. They ran towards the other two standing out in the open, dodging to the side to avoid the gun fire. 

"On - left -wa-" Jason hit the side of his helmet, but Oracles voice was gone. 

"Think my comms are down." He called out. 

"Mine too," Tim replied, jumping onto one of the crates. 

Jason quickly lost sight of him, focusing more on the thugs in front of him and trusting the kid to watch his own back - at least for a minute until he could check on him again. Still, he kept his ears open. 

There were even more men than they expected going in, Black Mask must have had some of them laying in wait in case word did get out about this meeting. The intel was still good judging by the boxes and boxes of weapons and ammo laying about, but boy did the man clearly not want this shipment going missing. 

And of course that meant that his men were armed to the teeth. 

Hopefully the kids at the other location were having an easier time of things. 

Jason kicked the gun out of one man's hand before ducking a bat aimed at his own head. Pulling one gun from it's holster Jason used his continued momentum to spin around and shoot the man in the shin then the shoulder. He dropped with a pained grunt giving Jason time to spin back to man number one, raising his leg to kick the man as he scrambled for the dropped gun and dropping the man hard. 

There was a long burst of gunfire which had Jason ducking behind some crates. The noise was quickly followed by Nightwings cheery laughter and a call of "Oops, my bad!" 

Jason snorted and tried to get a line of sight on the oldest of the Robins. 

He spotted Nightwing flipping up the catwalk before Jason got distracted once more by three new opponents heading his way. By the time he knocked out the first one two more had joined the fray. 

It would be easier for Jason if he got higher and started sniping off crooks one by one, but the maze-like layout and the tight corridors was making it hard to use his main weapons efficiently. Luckily he was of course better trained in hand to hand then any of these mooks. Just had to keep moving and hope none of them got a lucky shot in before he could take them down. 

"Still good Reds 1 and 2?" He heard Nightwing call out somewhere out to his left. 

"Oh yeah, walk in the park." Red Robin replied from across the warehouse. 

"Just peachy 'Wing" 

"We should do this more - oof- often." Nightwing cheered his voice getting further away. 

"Geeze, how many are there?" RR called out sounding more annoyed than tired. Some more gun shots sounded off in his direction. 

"I think we're three quarters of the way through wave one!" 

"Wave one?!" 

Jason tuned them out as he was slowly being swarmed. Nothing he couldn't handle - handle while laughing at the men rushing him in ones and twos instead of all diving in, Mask really needed to work on his team training, maybe do some trust falls - but the unconscious bodies were taking up valuable foot room. 

Using one of the bigger thugs as a springboard Jason flipped over a few heads and landed in a less occupied space. In the momentary confusion that turning around caused these knuckleheads he lobbed a grenade right into the middle of the group. 

"What was that?" Nightwings worried voice carried over after it went off. 

"Just a flash grenade," Jason called back 

"Give us some warning, would you?!" 

Jason huffed as he took down the disoriented criminals, one of which was swinging blindly and had helpfully knocked the wind out of one of his buddies. "Heads up! I threw a Flash grenade!" 

He's almost certain he heard Red-2 call him an asshole from somewhere close by, but he was a little too busy securing this sad lot to check. 

Hearing someone approach from behind Jason spun only to see another grunt lifting a - god damn - rocket launcher at him from not ten feet away. 

Even if he could dodge the shot, with the contents of the crates surrounding them it looked like it would be death by exploding warehouse for him once more. 

Jason stood up straight, facing the man fully, and put his hands on his hips. "Seriously?" He quickly catalogued any way he could get out of this before the trigger was pulled. 

"Red hood. Black Mask wanted to make -" whatever Black Mask wanted was cut off when the idiot took a baton to the head. 

Nightwing grinned at him over the now crumpled minion. "That was very rude Wing. Didn't Agent A ever teach you not to interrupt." 

"Manners are employed by our gun users exclusively." He grinned unrepentant. 

It was enough to get Jason to snort a laugh. 

One of the remaining bad guys slid in out of nowhere like he was sliding into home and snatched up the rocket launcher from the ground. Before he could even choose which one to aim it at - it looked like he was about to go for Nightwing, which was dumb, they were only a few feet apart. Obviously the explosion would kill both parties - Jason dove in and redirected the weapon just as the man pulled the trigger in surprise.

The three of them watched as the projectile launched up and over the crates towards one wall - then miraculously sailed out the broken window.

Nightwing whistled, sounding impressed from where he had now wrapped himself around the guy's neck in a choke hold. “Did you aim that?”

“Would you believe me if I said yes?” Jason grinned under his helmet as he wrestled the weapon out of the man's grip, while Nightwing laughed, finally managing to knock the guy out cold.

“No chance!” They still had heard the explosion, they would have to check on the damage later, but the way it was heading it was a lot less likely to have hurt a lot of people.

With a nod to the side, the two of them scurried up on top of a couple of shipping containers and surveyed the area. 

Red Robin was still locked in combat with one last person, though it looked like he had it well in hand. There were three or four towards the back looking ready to bolt, and a straggler over towards the right wall. 

Before Nightwing could say anything, his head already tilted towards the group at the back, the bay doors opened letting a truck pull part way in and another group of men started swarming towards them. 

"I blame you for this." Red Robin complained to Nightwing as the younger vigilante joined them atop the crate. 

"Well, I did summon them." Nightwing nodded. 

Jason rolled his eyes. "You guys start on them I'll go round up the strays and meet you back here." 

With that Jason jumped down and rushed towards the far side of the warehouse while the sounds of renewed fighting started up behind him. 

Dick finished securing the last of the criminals while Tim was working on shutting down whatever was blocking their communications when Batman swooped in, all black cape and extra dramatics. 

"Report." 

Dick forced his muscles not to lock up, even as he stopped himself from letting out a humorless laugh. Something about that tone when no one was bleeding (on their side at least) always made him want to pick a fight with Bruce. Leftover teenage rebellion maybe. He forced it down to give a quick run-down. 

"Where's Hood?" 

Nightwing jerked his head towards the back. "Went chasing after runners." That had been a while ago though. Not a terribly long time of course, but enough that with communication still down it sent a small nervous spike through him. 

Batman was already sweeping towards the far end so Dick turned to follow, sending a look over to Tim who nodded. The kid would keep working on the communications while he babysat until the cops showed up. 

It didn't take them long to cross the warehouse, so much easier when you could travel a straight line and not worry about getting shot for it. And then they were opening the back door that opened into a long corridor. They kept their ears open as they entered, walking slowly.

The first door opened into a janitor's closet while on the opposite side the wall opened into a small break room, quickly determined to be empty. 

Opening the door to the next room the smell of blood hit Dick before he even spotted the body. He entered carefully, glancing around for anyone hiding in the shadows. 

The person - the woman - had been tied to a chair - with christmas lights no less, Dick was just thankful they weren’t plugged in - and she was beaten. Brutally. A single bullet in her head to finish it off. Recently it looked like. 

He shook his head at Batman and followed after as the man swept back into the hallway.

Nightwing was ready to suggest he go back and update the police, check on Red Robin, but Tim should be fine where he was, everyone was subdued, and they still hadn’t caught sight of Jason nor the runners.

The suggestion died as soon as he saw that the next door over was left ajar. Someone had been through here already. Hopefully they were getting close and Jason had avoided doing anything reckless.

Batman lightly pressed on the wood and they stood back as it swung open. 

The lights were off in the room but there was enough spilling from the hallway to spot the man's shoes. Switching to night vision It was clear that this man had been facing the doorway when he had been shot. Nightwing crept closer, checking for a pulse though it was clear there wouldn't be one. A stomach wound. It was messy. It would have been painful. 

"Another." Batman growled sweeping past him. 

Nightwing quickly moved over to where the other body was laying only a bit further into the room. 

The man was staring blindly upwards, a look of surprise frozen on his face. 

“B..." He honestly didn't know what he wanted to say. But he had a sick idea of where this was going.

It didn't matter though because Bruce wasn't in the mood to listen. 

They worked further through the room, the overhead lights flickering on as it picked up their movements. 

Which is when they spotted body number three. 

He had almost reached the door. He was laying stretched out, one hand reaching for it. He had been shot in the back. Looks as though he had tried to keep crawling away before he was shot a second time. 

Still no sign of Jason. 

They moved through the door out into a slush filled back alley. The ice of half melted snow left no clear footprints, but signs that people had been in and out of here.

"B maybe it's not..." Batman just growled. “We can’t jump to conclusions.”

They spotted a figure at the mouth of the alley and Batman was off. 

"-on, you're breaking up again," He heard Red Hood say, one hand pressed to his helmet and his back to them as he started to head towards the road. 

Before he could get a step further Batman had grabbed the back of his coat, thrown him back into the backstreet and slammed him against the wall. 

"What the hell?" Red Hood wheezed. 

"We had a deal!" Batman growled getting right up in his face. 

"Wha-" 

Batman pulled him by the shoulders and slammed him back into the wall. Nightwing heard a cracking noise as he watched Red Hood's helmet bounce off the brick. 

"We. Had. A. Deal." Nightwing put his hands up taking a cautious step closer to the pair, wondering if he needed to intercede. "You don't shoot anyone and I allow you to stay in Gotham." 

"Allow- _Allow_ me to stay?" The disbelief was clear in the younger man's voice. 

"I gave you one rule. One. And you couldn't obey." 

Seemingly snapping out of his bewilderment Jason raises his arms and knocks Batman's hands from his shoulders. "I agreed I wouldn't kill anyone inside your city limits-" 

Dick flinched at the reminder that the other vigilante cavalier attitude towards murder.

"And still I'm left with three bodies on a warehouse floor." 

The Red Hood, who had pushed away from the wall to get right back into Batman's face seemed to tense at the reminder. Had he really thought they wouldn't have seen? What was he thinking? 

"So what?" The Hood growled just as Dick was going to ask them both to calm down. "Thought you would chase me down and smack some sense into me? Going to throw me in Blackgate over a few dead criminals? Ones who were doing their damndest to kill your kids a moment ago?" He gestured vaguely at Dick with that comment. "Or maybe think another stint at gold ol' Arkham might do me some good? Hmm? Trials are only for people who you don’t know personally right? Or are you really going to try to run me out of town old man?" 

Bruce had taken a half step back as Hood had advanced, giving him enough room to drop and sweep Batman's legs. 

"Fuck you." Jason growled with disdain before he jumped and scaled the wall to the rooftop with bat-like ease. 

"B!" Dick called moving to check on his mentor, but the man was already up and calling for the other to get back here as he drew his own grappling gun. 

Nightwing followed them onto the rooftop, hoping to stop this before it came to blows. 

"Jason! You have no right. You think you get to play judge, jury and executioner. You think you get to choose who should die. You are a child. You don't get to come in to my city-" 

"Your city?" Hood gave a cruel laugh turning to face them. " _Your_ city? This is _my_ city. I grew up here. Right down in the _filth_ of it. This city is in my veins. It's as much mine as it ever was yours. And what gives you the right to decide what's best for her? What right do you have to be her one and only guardian. I know her people, I live among them, watch them suffer and suffocate in these streets. So you can spout whatever sanctimonious crap you want. But I will not be driven from my home for your piece of mind. For your outdated and ineffectual sense of justice." 

"Okay, okay!" Dick stepped forward, both hands raised once more. "Let's all take a deep breath." He could see the way Hood was twitching towards his holsters, the way Batman's hand rested on his batarang. 

"What's going on?" A new voice asked, as Red Robin and Batgirl joined them on the roof. 

"What are you doing here Batgirl?" Dick asked to give everyone a moment. 

She shrugged nonchalantly but was clearly well aware of the tension thick in the air. "We wrapped things up pretty easily, but lost contact with you guys. I drew the short straw and came to see what was going on." 

"And what's happening up here?" Tim asked again, unwilling to be diverted.

"The Red Hood has gone back to his old methods.” Bruce growled, not looking away from the man in question.

“What?” The other two look to the second Robin in confusion. 

“Three bodies.”

There was a long drawn out moment where looks were exchanged between everyone but the two locked in a staring contest. 

“No, that. I mean, he wasn’t using live ammo during the fight.” Red Robin reminded. “Or. I didn’t see…”

Nightwing was quick to nod. “We rounded everyone up, no one dead.”

“Any bullet wounds?” Batman accused.

Dick shifted uneasily. “Well. They were all shooting. And it was pretty tight corridors…”

Batman huffed. The defense sounded weak even to Dicks ears. He hadn’t exactly kept an eye on Jason during the fight, trusting the others to take care of themselves. But when he had come across Hood his guns were stowed. Of course maybe that had been because he had already secured that particular group and wasn’t expecting any more company. 

There had been a lot of shooting. He couldn’t say for sure if Jason had shot anybody or not. All he knew was that there were a few people with bullet wounds and Red Hood packing. 

But it’s not like they told him he couldn’t shoot anyone. That had never been one of the conditions. Just no killing.

But with no one there to vouch that he hadn’t done it…

“So what? You think that I waited until the kids were out of eyesight to start up offing people? Because I, what? Thought they wouldn’t notice a few missing no-facers?”

“Who were you speaking to down there?” Batman asked switching tracks. “A contact? Setting up your own buyer for the goods?”

“No actually, I was hired to assassinate those three specific henchmen.” The tone came out flat even with the voice modulator. “Boy was I lucky they happened to be at the warehouse tonight.”

The growl he got in return only made the man square his own shoulders, ready to brawl.

“Okay, no offence Batman, but why don’t you back off for a second and RH can actually tell us what happened?” Batgirl interrupted stepping in closer.

Bruce glowered at her but Hood tipped a grateful look her way. Maybe. It was hard to tell with the helmet.

Hood adjusted his stance slightly rocking a bit on his toes, maintaining the defensive curl to his shoulders. “I left Nightwing and Red Robin to chase after the guys escaping out the back- ”

“Why those men?”

“...Because they were escaping out the back??” The disbelief was tangible. 

“And you had to leave the other two behind?”

“We agreed,” Nightwing cut in. “We were about to go after them together but then their reinforcements showed up. We agreed that he would get those guys while Red Robin and I took out the rest.”

Batman didn’t seem pleased by this though, if his frown was anything to go by. Nightwing fought himself not to back down, curl up under Batman's disapproval.

“This wouldn’t be the first time you and Black Mask have fought. Over turf, over weapons. Maybe you wanted to get an extra few hits in. Maybe you were mad that he almost got away with this right under your nose. So you decided to pay him back by taking down a few of his lieutenants.”

“This isn’t the first time any of us have fought him. Didn’t Black Mask just about kill this one here?” He shouted back, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Batgirl who looked unhappily surprised at suddenly being thrown into the limelight. “But really, what’s another Robin in the long run? Nah, better to let ruthless killers go free while the kids get hurt.”

“You’re one to talk Hood.”

Hood shook his head, turned to take off but Nightwing quickly stepped forwards cutting off his path. Hood folded his arms while staring him down. “You really want to do this?” Dick shrugged helplessly. No he didn’t, but it was looking like there was no other choice. If Jason could just calm down, just come back with them where they could question him properly...“And where’s your evidence? Wasn’t it innocent until proven guilty?”

“It matches your MO.”

“Yeah. I sure do shoot a lot of low level gun runners.”

“Weapons dealers, drug dealers, and men who abuse women.”

“The holy trifecta of scum.”

“So it wasn’t hard to figure out what set you off.”

Hood turned slowly back to face Batman but clearly tracked Nightwing as he stepped in closer. “We found that woman.”

“What woman?” Tim asked.

“There was a woman in there.” Nightwing shifted uneasily eyeing Hood. “Tied up, beaten, and killed.”

“And when you found her you snapped.” Batman took another menacing step forward, but Hood stared him down.

“You slipped Hood. We need to talk about this.” Dick pleaded, inching forward while the man remained silent. It’s not that he understood. But he knew the other man had issues. Real, understandable issues. But they couldn’t pretend this didn’t happen. Murder was not something they could keep sweeping under the rug. It was hard enough having a rough estimate of the others' kill count. They couldn’t stand by while he added to the list. And Hood had to know they would take him down if they had to. Fighting them now like this was only going to make things worse in the long run. “That woman didn’t deserve what happened to her. But that doesn’t make what you did right.”

“You’re just proving that we can’t trust you.” Batman growled.

“Great detective work. Honestly. Just stellar.”

“You think this is funny?” Nightwing watched Batman's muscles tense as he adjusted his stance. The other two took the cue from him to ready themselves for a fight as well.

“Yeah. _Yeah_ , I think the whole thing is a _fucking joke_.” Hood's arms fell to his sides, head turning slightly from side to side to try to track everyone without taking his eyes off of Batman. “A couple bastards with new head holes and you automatically assume it’s my doing. Wonder how many other bodies I’m responsible for in the last few weeks. The ones cut up by the docks? Falcones boys? That missing police officer too probably!”

“That wouldn’t exactly be unheard of for you.” Red Robin muttered.

“Was anyone talking to you Alyssa Green?” Hood spun on him in a heartbeat. “No, just got to insert yourself into everything though don’t you? Center of the fucking universe. You and your opinions are not needed here Replacement, so you can fuck right off.”

“Hey!” Steph shouted, taking a step between Red Hood and Tim.” Don’t lash out at him for your own messed up choices.”

“If you don’t want him hit, keep him from stepping into the ring.”

“Hood!” Dick called his attention back to him.

“What? Your turn to step up to the plate Goldie? Ready to recite all my mistakes and remind us all of what a failure I am? Go on. List them alphabetically. Or is that too tough for you?” Dicks eyes darted to Bruce for only a second, but Red Hood must have caught it judging by his scoff. “Or do you need to hold daddy’s hand while you take on the big bad gangster?”

“I’m not exactly _scared of you_ Hood.” Dick growled back. He didn’t mean to, he was trying to stay calm, but the guy always knew just what buttons to push. “I don’t need to list your mistakes, we all already know them. What we do need is for you to stop acting like a child and tell us what happened in there.”

“Oh really? You’re not scared Big Bird?” Dick couldn’t help but flinch as Jason brushed his hand along one of his guns. “Didn’t you hear? I’m a cold blooded killer.”

“You sure are putting on the tough guy act for someone who wants us to let him go.” Batgirl huffed with some anger creeping in.

“Yet I don’t hear you claiming you didn’t do it.” Bruce added. Unhelpfully.

“I shouldn’t have to.” Jason said so quietly Dick almost missed it. ““Why can’t you just believe in me? Why could you never-” But then he sighs and returns to his former volume. “I didn’t do it.”

Batman continued to glare and Hood gave the slightest of nods as though that was all he had been expecting. Dick himself wasn’t sure how he felt about the declaration. Jason had always been a good actor, Dick had never learned to tell when the other was lying. The helmet didn’t make it any easier.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

“Jason, just come in. We’ll listen, we’ll figure out what happened.” Dick pleaded.

“No.”

They all moved in closer, carefully watching the way his hand hovered by his guns.

“Damn it Hood!” Batgirl shouted, clearly at the end of her patience and ready to raise her fists.

“No! I’m not just going to let you lock me up when I’m innocent.”

“You’re hardly innocent.” Red Robin scoffed when Hood turned on him. “Or did you forget the time you tried to gut me? Or when you took over the drug trade?”

“You are a murderer. And worse, you are remorseless. You should never have been permitted to remain free. I won’t allow sentiment to get in the way of justice.”

Robin appeared silently, completing the circle around Red Hood, effectively caging the man in. A glance to the side showed Black Bat had joined them too, though she chose to stand back and observe for the moment.

Robin looked surprisingly shaken, but Nightwing didn’t have time to focus on that right now. 

“Once a killer, always a killer.” The Red Hood laughed darkly. “People don’t change. No matter how much you want them to.” The Red Hood growled, turning back to directly face Batman.

“It was foolish of me to think that you could.”

“Forget it.” Hood laughed. “My guilt was decided the moment those guys were found. I always knew the outcome of working with you lot. I’d end up dead or in jail - wonder which one you would prefer at his point - “He turned a look back at Bruce. “But if you think I’m going out quietly, you sure as _hell_ don’t know me.”

Bruce dove in. Hood jumped back and suddenly there was a blinding light. 

They all stumbled. “Everyone alright?” Nightwing called out with spots in his eyes. Another flash grenade. Should have seen that coming. 

There were a couple of murmured agreements. It took a minute until he could see enough to see Steph and Tim crouch down on the roof, while Black Bat shielded Robin. Batman already scanning the skyline for Hood.

“If he’s gone to ground we are not going to find him tonight.” Nightwing cautioned as he approached his former mentor, who was looking two seconds away from jumping off the building to spend the night chasing shadows. 

And true to form, Batman just grunted and took off.

“Okay kids,” He turned back to the other two after a heartfelt sigh, “That’s probably enough excitement for the night. Let’s head on back. As soon as your eyes clear up at least.” He offered a sheepish smile but only got tired nods in return. 

Dropping down to head back to his bike, Dick paused remembering the case Hood had been holding before he had been dragged into the alley way. A quick check showed it was still there.

He knelt in the alley way and opened it up. There was an unknown fluid in a glass container along with a series of unintelligible symbols attached to the inside of the case.

“Any idea what this is?” He asked as Red Robin landed beside him.

The younger man looked over his shoulder and shook his head after a moment. “No clue. Looks concerning though. Want to take it back to the cave for tests?”

Nightwing nodded and after closing it back up the two of them rushed towards their bikes.

It was a quick trip back to the cave. The others were just coming out of the showers as they climbed off their bikes. 

The air was heavy with the suppressed anger they all feel when someone gets the drop on them. It didn’t help Dick any when he stepped into the locker area to see Jason’s duffle bag sitting innocuously on the bench. Like he might swing in any minute to finish the movie with them. Share a bowl of popcorn. 

Dick turned around and went back into the cave proper. He could shower later, after they looked into whatever goodies Hood had grabbed from Black Mask.

Tim was already at it, a few machines running as he held up the container to the light.

Heading that way Dick only stopped when he noticed Damian trying to scurry past him up towards the stairs - while trying to look like he wasn’t scurrying, chin tilted at that angle that meant he thought he could pretend he was unaffected by anything.

“Hey little D,” Dick stopped him, the kid turning and giving him a haughty look. “I know things got messy back there. Want to talk about it?”

“What is there to talk about Grayson?” The boy turned back towards the stairs.

“Hey, come on now Dames.”

“Leave it Grayson.” Without waiting for an agreement Damian took off up to the manor .

Dick sighed watching him climb before turning back towards Tim. 

“Anything interesting?”

“Don’t know. Just started. But… It’s not something I’ve seen before.”

“It’s been a long night-” Dick started but was quickly cut off.

“Not as long as our usual.” Tim wore an impressive scowl as he measured out some chemicals. “I want to get this done.”

Dick nodded and put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder before moving towards the mats. “Let me know if you want a hand with anything.”

He managed to get in a half hour of beating up a practice dummy before Dick decided he wasn’t in the right frame of mind for this. His knuckles were growing sore and his muscles were starting to ache. He was mad and he was going to end up hurting himself if he kept going like this. 

Walking over, planning to check in with Tim before cleaning up and heading upstairs he was interrupted when Oracle buzzed in.

“What’s up Babs?” He asked, approaching the big computer.

“Is Jason there? I haven’t been able to contact him.”

Dick hesitated. “Yeah. No. I don’t think we’ll be seeing him for a while.”

“What? What happened?”

“It’s. It’s complicated.”

He heard Barbara's unamused laugh. “When isn’t it with you boys? Well, I got a lead on the symbols he sent me. No direct translation so far. It just looks like gibberish. But I’ll figure it out. What about the mystery potion? Did he leave it with you?”

“We. Have it here.” He replied slightly brokenly. 

“Any progress?” 

“Nope just starting. Hopefully we’ll have something soon.”

“Keep me in the loop.” She signed off and Dick rubbed his forehead. At least they knew now who Jason had been talking to. 

But why would he take the case and call Babs? He must have taken it off of the last guy and then- what? He walked outside to radio about it?

It made sense that he had to walk away from the building, get away from whatever was jamming their lines, but it would have made more sense to come back to them the way he had gone. Maybe not mention the dead guys and disappear before they found out. Or had he already been out there? Was there - shit. 

Shit.

There had been four men. They had seen four men escaping out the back. The three laying in the back room, and a fourth Hood must have chased outside.

Was he still out there? Had the cops found him?

Was he dead too?

Dick thumped himself on the head and turned to lean back on the computer desk, vaguely tracking Alfred as he made his way down the cave stairs.

Damnit Dick should have been paying more attention. Both to Jason during the fight and to the number of assailants he had chased after. Hell Nightwing should have been the one to go after them, then maybe none of this would be happening now. Tim and Jason would have been watching each other's backs. And If Jason felt like getting trigger happy Red Robin would have stopped him.

Hopefully the guy was found before some kids stumbled across him. Maybe Hood had doubled back to cover this one up. 

Or maybe he left this one alive. Good for intel. Or -

Or. 

There were three together. Hood had to chase the fourth one down the block. They were all using guns. Hood seemed surprised by the accusations.

Jason said he didn’t do it.

Dick turned around and pulled up the GCPD to see if there had been anything filed yet about tonight's arrests. Even if it was too early to get any autopsy reports.

“Are we expecting Master Bruce home at any point this evening?” Alfred asked, materializing beside Dick with a cold protein shake.

Dick hummed liberating the glass from a tray. “Probably not for a while.” But he was quickly distracted by his search again as Alfred moved off to give Tim his drink as well.

“Do you think you could get the ballistics from our fatalities and match them to Jason’s guns?” Dick asked distractedly.

“Uh. Yeah I guess. We should have it on file. As long as he’s still using the same weapons.” Tim replied moving towards him.

Jason was a creature of habit. As long as he hadn't somehow destroyed his weapons then he was likely to be using the same ones as he had been before.

“From this evening?” Alfred asked.

“Yeah.”

Dick glanced over to see Alfred's frown and flinched internally when he realized no one had told the man the current situation. Looks like that fell to him then. The joys of being the oldest.

“Master Jason has switched exclusively over to rubber bullets while in Gotham.”

Dick froze, barely able to flit his eyes over to Tim to see a similar reaction. 

“Or at the very least, he only brings his rubber ammunition when he comes over to the manor. I believe he said something about not leaving guns around children. Though I do think he was referring to Master Bruce at the time.”

“Oh.” Tim says weakly, “I didn’t know that.”

“Well. No one has ever accused any one in this household of over sharing.” Alfred gave them both the eyebrow, causing Dick to duck his head and take a guilty sip of his shake. “Now if you’ve both finished, may I suggest you both get cleaned up and head upstairs? Miss Cassandra has gone to Miss Stephanie's for the evening, and Master Damian is already in his room.”

“Yeah. Um, Yeah. We’ll head up soon Alfie.” The man stared them down for a minute before making his own way back up the stairs.

“Rubber bullets?” 

Dick looked at him guiltily and shook his head. “I didn’t know either.”

“So then…”

“Yeah.”

“Well. This is a mess.”

“He could have just-! He wasn't exactly defending himself back there.” Dick growled. The anger surged up out of nowhere. Dick glanced at his knuckles and wondered briefly if he could go another few rounds with the punching bag. But then he looked over at Tim and realized he had to stuff all that down for now. Lead by example right? "I'm hitting the showers, how about you?"

Tim looked back over his shoulder to where he had been working a few minutes earlier. "I need a few minutes still to finish up." Dick hated the heavy curl of the kids shoulders, the downward cast to his eyes. But he couldn't find anything to say to him. It kind of felt like another failure at the moment, but Dick wasn't sure he could keep himself from snapping if he tried to offer comfort right now.

"Hurry up though," Dick tried for a lighter mood, "I might use up all the shampoo!"

Tim gave him a weak smile that didn't even try to touch his eyes and waved him off heading back to his work.

Dick ran his hand through his hair, hesitating for one more moment before dragging himself back to the showers.

He ran through the motions mechanically, mind a million miles away. Just as he finished drying off and getting dressed Tim slipped into the showers. Probably managing to time it to cut off any future attempts at conversation.

"I'll see you upstairs." He called over the sound of running water anyways.

Dick glanced at the duffle bag sitting there once more, resisting the urge to kick it, before true to his word he headed up to the manor proper.

He wandered slightly aimlessly through the hallways, hands stuffed into his pockets, fists clenching and unclenching. He could go to the kitchen, the unofficial gathering point for those who wanted to talk, but honestly he wasn't sure he was in the place to talk this out right now. Not without cursing everyone out, and the kids didn't deserve that.

Of course the girls were out. And Damian was upstairs, Tim downstairs, the only one he would run into would be Alfred. The voice of reason. Jason's absolute favourite person.

He _really_ didn't deserve Dicks moodiness either.

Damn it why couldn't Jason ever just give them a straight answer? Why not just give them a damn report of the situation. He was all smart alec remarks and sass until it mattered and then of fucking course he clamed up. Had to get his hits in and then run away while everyone else is left bloody and without the answers they need to do their freaking jobs.

Dick found himself wandering into the media room. It hadn't been intentional. It just seemed to be the only room without soft warm and inviting Christmas decorations hung up. Well, a few garlands, but nothing to detract anyone's attention from the night's movies.

He paused behind the couch. It was strange to realize that they had all (sans Bruce and Alfred, because they apparently don't appreciate a good Christmas movie) been relaxed and making jokes with Jason a few hours earlier.

The TV was now turned off, the drinks and snacks cleared away.

Dicks hands clenched on the back of the couch. He was filled with the impotent need to do something.

But what? If Jason was going to be brought in then Bruce would be the one to do it. If they are going to figure out what was in that suitcase, it's going to be by Tim. If his innocence was going to be proven it would probably be by Oracle when all the police reports were in - though that means Dick will need to fill her in. Later. That's a later thing.

Going back to the cave seems like retreating. And turning on the TV seems disrespectful somehow.

He was about to leave when he saw a small piece of paper over by the entertainment unit. It wasn't like Alfred to miss something like that, but Dick remembers watching Damian toss it at Jason with the biggest scowl on his face.

Picking it up and carefully flattening it out Dick was surprised by how much text was fit onto the scrap of paper.  
  


_Lord Downey was an assassin. Or, rather, an Assassin. The capital letter was important. It separated those curs who went around murdering people for money from the gentlemen who were occasionally consulted by other gentlemen who wished to have removed, for a consideration, any inconvenient razorblades from the candyfloss of life._

_The members of the Guild of Assassins considered themselves cultured men who enjoyed good music and food and literature. And they knew the value of human life. To a penny, in many cases._ _  
__-The hogfather._  
  


Dick sat down heavily.

Jason had picked out this movie for them. He had come prepared. He wanted Damian to give it a chance.

Did that change anything?

Dick crushed the note in his hand.

Whether he was an assassin, an Assassin, or reformed - did that change any of the concerns they brought up tonight? 

Even if he had been following every rule. Trying his hardest to work with the family. To be part of it. Always there when they needed him.

Dick folded over, putting his head in his hands and gave himself over to the guilt.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! It took me longer than I meant it to to write this haha. I hope someone somewhere was made to feel something?


End file.
